By DAVE HAUSMANN
Though I cannot speak for all, I know I speak for many Ketchum restaurateurs who oppose allowing new food and beverage service on the new Ketchum Town Square.
First, to clarify some points. I look forward to the square's opening and being a gathering spot for locals and tourists alike and hope the goal to increase vibrancy in the community and bring more business for all is achieved. Leroy's and special event permits for concerts, etc. should be continued. This is not about stifling competition. Four new restaurants have opened in Ketchum in the last 12 months, with a fifth opening soon. This is about the city's unfairly promoting and subsidizing competition on city property and using food and beverage service as the crutch for success of the square.
The City Council concluded, against nearly every restaurateur's verbal objection, that it should change city policy to allow "for-profit" food and beverage service on city property. Here's how it will play out: Summer No. 1 may be snacks and water. Summer No. 2, perhaps pre-made wraps, subs and salads. Summer No. 3, extended hours of operation with light dinner items. It will not be worth anyone's time to sell $1-$3 items, so the vendor will need to add higher-priced items to the offering. Then perhaps one vendor turns to two, then three then four. This of course will pull people out of existing and future brick-and-mortar restaurants.
It was proposed by the council that there be a fair-market value associated with the rents the city would collect from these vendors. Will this formula be for 10-by-l0-foot tent space, or available seating area? Will landscape maintenance, trash removal, water and sewer fees be comparable to what a brick-and-mortar pays? How about marketing? Will they be charged a percentage of city-funded marketing material that will tell everyone in print, e-mail and on the website to come to Ketchum and go to the Town Square? Try to put a price on that. The vendors would need to serve a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu to cover that overhead. So, for the city to tell us that these vendors will actually pay anything near market value, or realize the same expenses we do, is a hoax. This will clearly be government-subsidized food-and-beverage service on city property.
What is the solution? Many feel that a vibrant city square needs to have food and beverage service of some kind. Examples mentioned of successful squares with street vending have been New York City, San Francisco, Portland and Italy, to name a few. Can we for a minute remember that we are none of the above and what works there may not necessarily be a requirement for success in Ketchum, Idaho? What works at Yankee Stadium, might not be right for Atkinson Park softball games.
What is Ketchum and what do we stand for? Do we want people to come to our square to sit and be served food and beverage? Or should we promote health, fitness and maybe a one- to four- block walk to pick up lunch or dinner and go to the square? There are 40 restaurants located within a four-block radius of the square. We are an active community and should send that message. We have been asked to get creative as restaurateurs to come up with a solution. I challenge those same people to come up with something creative themselves that doesn't harm the restaurant community while still achieving the common goal of creating vitality in this town for all (e.g. Memory Park's fountain and garden).
I am strongly in favor of a successful and vibrant town square. I feel the square, with this goal in mind, can and should thrive without hurting a large segment of our economy.
Dave Hausmann is the owner of Lefty's Bar & Grill in Ketchum.
